CRUEL UNIVERSE #1 / Scripts by CORINNA BECHKO, CHRIS CONDON, MATT KINDT, & BEN H. WINTERS / Art by JONATHAN CASE, KANO, ARTYOM TOPILIN, & CAITLIN YARSKY / Colors by KANO, MICHAEL ATIYEH, JONATHAN CASE, & BRITTANY PEER / Letters by RICHARD STARKINGS & COMICRAFT’S TYLER SMITH / Covers by GREG SMALLWOOD, J.H. WILLIAMS III, JAY STEPHENS, RIAN HUGHES, TOM FOWLER & BILL CRABTREE / Published by ONI PRESS & EC COMICS

EC Comics was the greatest casualty of the Comics Code Authority. While most of the big comic companies were forced to stop publishing whole genres, EC Comics’ competitors specifically designed the code to put them out of business. Now, Oni Press has revived the line, and is trying to tell the same twisted tales of weird science that once graced newsstands around the USA.

Cruel Universe #1 is a welcome throwback to the science-fiction of yesteryear. It contains four tales, each of which is a total banger. In order, they are…

• The Champion, by Matt Kindt and Kano, which details the life of a space-faring father turned enslaved gladiator and intergalactic superstar.
• Solo Shift, by Corinna Bechko, Caitlin Yarsky, and MIchael Atiyeh, which centers around an impossible murder in deep space.
• Drink Up, by Chris Condon and Jonathan Case, which centers around an eccentric billionaire’s search for the Fountain of Youth.
• Priceless, by Ben H. Winters, Artyom Topilin, and Brittany Peer, in which a man sells his memories at the cost of his soul.

Do not think those summations come even close to giving away the game. Even expecting a twist ending, as in the finest Tales of the Crypt and Twilight Zone episodes, I am not ashamed to say that most of these stories got me. Yet my favorite of the four is the only one where I guessed the ending. The journey to that end, however, more than made up for that. And the art teams are uniformly amazing.

The only cruel thing about this series, apart from the title, is that it is currently scheduled to run for only five issues. I want more! If you enjoy vintage science fiction, you will love Cruel Universe #1. The new Golden Age starts here!

Cruel Universe #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on August 7, 2024.